212 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



serviceable in aiding them to run over the in- 

 secure pathway paved only with the floating 

 leaves of the water lilies or to climb among the 

 tangles of grass and water-plants. 



The Purple Gallinule appears in its summer 

 home in April or May and after a perfectly 

 proper period of courtship nest building is begun. 

 This interesting receptacle for the eggs is usually 

 built in reeds or rushes a few feet above the 

 water. Not long ago I examined six nests in a 

 pond in lower Louisiana. Without exception 



these were constructed of grass-stems and rushes, 

 each being built in a separate bunch of thick 

 rushes. The surrounding stalks were pulled 

 down in such a manner as to hide each nest com- 

 pletely from view. They were located above the 

 water at heights varying from two to five feet. 

 In the Mississippi valley the Purple Gallinule 

 does not breed much north of Missouri. In the 

 East and South (except Florida) it is confined 

 largely to the tide-water sections. 



T. Gilbert Pearson. 



FLORIDA GALLINULE 

 Gallinula galeata {Lichtoistciii) 



A. O. U. Xumbcr .-mq 



Other Names. — American Gallinule ; Common Gal- 

 linule ; Red-billed Mud Hen; Water Hen; Water 

 Chicken. 



General Description. — Length, 14 inches. Prevailing 

 color, blackish. Forehead covered by naked shield at 

 base of bill ; toes slender and without lobes ; bill slender, 

 sharp, and nearly as long as head. 



Color. — Adults: Head, neck all around, breast, 

 and under parts, dark slate, duskier on head and neck, 

 and whitening behind; upper parts, brownish-slate; 

 wings and tail, dusky ; sides of under tail-coverts, edge 

 of wing, outer web of first primary, and stripes on 

 flanks, white; bill, frontal plate, ami a riiu/ around 

 upper part of leii, red; tip of bill, yellow; a narrow 

 white stripe on face at base of bill; legs, greenish-yel- 

 low; iris, red. YorxG : Similar to adults, but duller. 



See Color I'late 27 



with whitish under parts, and brownish bill and fore- 

 head. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest : In the marshes; con- 

 structed of dry reeds; often placed on a buoyant plat- 

 form of the same material, capable of rising and falling 

 with the water ; in some places it is built on dry parts 

 of the meadow. Eggs: 6 to 12, bufify-white, rather 

 sparsely spotted with brown. 



Distribution. — Tropical and temperate America ; 

 breeds from central California, Arizona, Nebraska, 

 Minnesota, Ontario, New York, and Vermont south 

 through the West Indies and Mexico to Chile and 

 .Argentina, and in the Galapagos and Bermuda; winters 

 from southern California, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia 

 southward ; casual in Colorado, Quebec, Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, and ^Nfaine. 



I'hotograph by i^. A. AVu 



A FLORIDA GALLINULE TURNING ITS EGGS 



